THE LAND OF TOMORROW
The writer lays no claim to being an historian, but a word in regard to
Alaska's early history and how the country came to be a part of our
national possessions may not be amiss.
When the Russians first came to the island of Unalaska they learned
from the natives there of a vast country lying to eastward, the name of
which was _Alayeksa_. Their own island, one of the Aleutian group, they
called _Nagun-Alayeksa_, which means "the land next to Alayeksa." As is
usually the case, especially in primitive languages, the word was
gradually modified and in time it assumed three different forms. The
Russians called the country itself _Alashka_. The peninsula became
_Aliaska_, the island _Unalaska_. In English the word changed once more
to the present name, _Alaska_, which means "The Great Country." It is a
fitting name. All honor to those two good Americans, Seward and Sumner,
who in the teeth of the most withering scorn, ridicule, and even
opprobrium, saved for our country her most glorious and valuable
possession,--the land discovered and partly explored by Vitus Bering in
1741.
The old saying that "Westward the star of empire takes its way" is not
applicable to Alaska. She enjoys a reputation wholly unique in the
history of nations. She is the only country acquired by any European
power in America because of expansion _eastward_. The territory which
lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River was our
inheritance from the mother country. The two Floridas, Texas, New
Mexico, and California we acquired, either directly or indirectly, from
Spain. From France we purchased Louisiana. But about the middle of the
sixteenth century there began in Russia a movement eastward similar to
that which followed (westward) the American Revolution in our own
country.
It was shortly after the overthrow of the Tartars and the establishment
of a national monarchy. But there was as much difference between the
motives underlying the westward movement in our country and the
eastward movement in Russia as there was in the character of the
pioneers who made them and the results which followed. The American
pioneer was either a fur trader, a prospector, a hunter, a missionary,
a soldier, or a farmer seeking land on which to settle. The Russian
pioneer was usually either a fugitive from justice or a proved criminal
who had been punished by exile to the vast wilderness which lay beyond
the confines of the empire.
Commercial and military motives exist in all countries, however, and in
this case both operated. The exigencies of commerce carry men to the
far corners of the earth. The trade in furs had long been a leading
industry in Russia. So as soon as it became known that the countries
east of the Russian empire were rich in fur-bearing animals,
particularly the highly-prized sable, the merchants at once sat up and
took notice! They hastened to extend their trade eastward as rapidly as
the country could be made Russian territory. So the Cossacks, pressing
ever onward, at last reached the Straits. Eastward through Siberia,
into Alaska they came for this purpose. Here they found not only furs
but huge quantities of ivory which was embedded in the drift along the
seacoast and the rivers.
It was during the reign of Peter the Great,--a reign which was
significant for many reasons. He it was who was responsible for the
promulgation of comprehensive exploring plans which resulted in the
discovery of Alaska. He fitted out an exploring party under command of
Vitus Bering, a Dane, who was accompanied by a Russian navigator named
Chirikof. The story of Bering's exploration is now too well known to
need elaboration here. On the morning of July sixteenth, 1741, Bering
records that he "came in sight of a rugged coast, presenting a vast
chain of mountains and a noble peak wrapped in eternal snows." This was
Mt. St. Elias.
For some reason which seems unaccountable and has never been explained,
Bering did not stop at this time for further exploration. Instead, he
set sail for home to report his discovery. He never reached Russia,
however. His boat, the _St. Peter_, was wrecked off a small island not
far from Kamchatka, where, on December eighth, 1741, the commander
died. He had discovered, explored, and named many of the small islands,
but his crew had suffered miserably from scurvy. Many had died. The
rest remained for nine months upon the little island which now bears
the commander's name,--Bering Island. The other boat, commanded by
Chirikof, had also a tragic experience. This navigator discovered the
coast of Alaska not far from Sitka. In an attempt to land ten of his
men were lost. A rescuing party sent in search of them met the same
fate. Both were victims of the cannibalistic residents of the coast.
They were sacrificed by the Kolosh Indians. A second rescuing party
went after the others but just as they neared the shore a party of
natives, looking as innocent as the cat who has eaten the canary,
suddenly appeared upon the bank. The little boat load of rescuers stood
not upon the order of their going. Regarding discretion as the better
part of valor, they turned and fled. A few months later, haggard and
famished, the remnant of the crew landed at Kamchatka.
Followed the long years of controversy in regard to trading privileges,
but in time these were, in a manner, adjusted. A hundred and
sixty-eight years later the United States added one more chapter in the
history and growth of our national interests on the Pacific. She
acquired Alaska. Beginning in Oregon, extending next to California,
where they received their most powerful impetus, these interests have
gradually increased to gigantic proportions. The markets of the Orient
became alluring. The Pacific railways were constructed. Not to have
profited by Russia's willingness to dispose of Alaska would have been
madness.
Perhaps the story (vouched for by Charles Sumner) of how the purchase
came about may also be of interest. It was during the administration
of President Buchanan, in 1859. An unofficial representative of the
President sounded the Russian minister as to the willingness of his
government to sell Alaska. Being asked quickly what the United States
would pay, the unofficial representative (who had not given the subject
serious consideration and who, if he had done so, would have had no
authority to answer such a question) was a bit nonplussed for the
moment. But he sent out a feeler by saying suggestively, "Oh,--about
five million dollars."
He saw at once that he had made an impression. He hastened to the
assistant Secretary of State and reported the affair to him. The latter
then approached the Russian minister, with the result that the matter
was brought definitely before the government. But----. The Civil War
broke out. And for the next six years there was no talk of buying
anything! During these years, however, the people of what is now the
State of Washington, along Puget Sound, had become deeply interested in
the fisheries. In 1866, through their legislature, they petitioned the
President of the United States to obtain for them from the Russian
government permission to fish in Alaskan waters, asking also for a more
complete exploration of the Pacific coast fisheries from "Cortez Bank
to Bering Sea." It was this petition which revived the discussion in
regard to the purchase of Alaska.
Fortune favored the project. As was the case with Napoleon, when he
agreed to the sale of the Louisiana territory, Russia, bled by one war
and already preparing for another, in danger of losing those of her
possessions which had been threatened by the British navy during the
Crimean war, the Russian-American Fur Company not disposed to accept
such modifications of its charter as the government saw fit to grant,
empowered the Archduke Constantine, brother of the Czar, to instruct
the Russian minister at Washington to cede the territory of Alaska to
the United States. Within a month all arrangements were complete. The
treaty was signed March thirtieth, 1867. The price at first agreed upon
was seven million dollars, but William H. Seward, Secretary of State,
offered to increase this amount by two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars on condition that Russia cede the territory "unencumbered by
any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants or possessions by
associated companies ... Russia or any other...."
It seemed for a while that there would be a hitch in the negotiations
due to the protest made by the Hudson Bay Company against this latter
demand. But Seward stood firm. He insisted, wisely, upon this
condition and secured it. Upon the entrance of the United States into
the game the Hudson Bay Company retired permanently from the scene.